CISF recovers over 10,000 tonnes of illegal coal in Jharkhand, Bengal

 The CISF recovered more than 10,000 tonnes of illegal coal during special operations conducted over the last two months to check pilferage and theft of the fossil fuel from mines in Jharkhand and West Bengal, officials said on Friday.

The Union government recently authorised the paramilitary force as the designated agency to undertake search and seizure operations under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, to check coal theft from the mines under its security cover.

In July, Union Home Minister Amit Shah directed the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to launch a 'zero coal leakage' operation against the mafia and criminals operating in these areas to pilfer and steal the precious energy resource.

The CISF has deployed about 12,000 personnel to guard 10 such units against the organised coal mafia in the two neighbouring states.

According to the officials, CISF Director General (DG) Praveer Ranjan concluded his three-day tour of these coal mines in the two states on Friday.

He reviewed the security processes, spoke to the personnel guarding these mines and met senior officials and management of the coal mining companies like Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, and the Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) in Sheetalpur (Asansol), West Bengal.

Since July, the CISF has recovered more than 10,000 tonnes of illegal or pilfered coal worth crores of rupees and apprehended numerous vehicles and people, the officials said.

They said the security of the Amrapali open-cast mine located in Chatra district of Jharkhand has also been entrusted to the CISF.

DG Ranjan also visited IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, where the force is planning to hold short-term courses on mining safety and security, in addition to cybersecurity, for its personnel, the officials said.